[Isabelle Tubbs]

Firewalls are vital for a system because they give the means for a security officer to implement defense mechanisms and access control on a system. They are also important because they maintain the integrity of the data (Palo Alto Networks, 2025). Where they are placed depends on how the system needs this defense. They can vary a lot depending on what they will be used for, what levels of protection they need, and how they pertain to certain security rules.

There are several different types of firewalls for a security officer to know. Packet filtering firewalls are the simplest and cheapest, and they use access control lists. Proxy firewalls mediate communication between trusted and untrusted entities so that it can provide some protection. Stateful firewalls determines access decisions using a state engine and a state table, and dynamic packet-filtering use application proxies and filtering rules. Finally, kernel proxies run specifically on the system’s kernel to provide protection.

References
Palo Alto Networks. (2025). What Are the Benefits of a Firewall? https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/cyberpedia/what-are-the-benefits-of-a-firewall#:~:text=When%20regulators%20or%20internal%20auditors,ensuring%20continued%20trust%20from%20stakeholders.